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This book was wonderful, so different to anything I've ever read before. Think of it more like a biography of Song Ci, rather than an outright mystery/crime book, although there are details of mysteries and crimes within.

It is set in medieval China, an era and place I am not too familiar with, but the book seemed to be researched very well as far as I could tell. There was nothing that jolted me out of the story for being too modern or not suited to the place. I loved finding out about all the different customs, such as why children's jackets had five buttons, and how many times you should refuse a gift before accepting it graciously. There were lots of little details like that which made the story come vividly to life.

In the first half of the book, poor Ci goes through as almost as many trials as Job, he suffers betrayals, humiliations, beatings, robbery and more as he tries desperately to re-enter the university and better his lot. He does finally get accepted at the university, but at great personal cost.

The second half of the book is when Ci attracts the attention of the emperor and is asked to help solve some gruesome murders The pace picks up quite a bit after that, but I wouldn't have said the first half was slow either, but just more sedate at times.

There are some violent moments in the book, as well as detailed descriptions of corpses and their injuries, not one for the squeamish, but you couldn't really have a book about a corpse reader without it.

It was a very interesting read with some fascinating facts on historical crime-solving and medieval China.

Review copy from amazon vine